Ryder System (NYSE:R) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Ryder System (NYSE:R) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on R. Vertical Research downgraded Ryder System from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $120.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Stephens boosted their price target on Ryder System from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a buy rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Ryder System in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ryder System from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a buy rating and set a $122.00 price target on shares of Ryder System in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $120.00.

Ryder System Price Performance

Shares of R stock opened at $111.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $114.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 1.40. Ryder System has a 52-week low of $76.15 and a 52-week high of $121.58.

Ryder System (NYSE:R) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The transportation company reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.20. Ryder System had a return on equity of 19.68% and a net margin of 3.45%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.98 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.89 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ryder System will post 11.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Ryder System Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Ryder System’s payout ratio is currently 32.53%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Karen M. Jones sold 7,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.48, for a total value of $877,994.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 12,396 shares in the company, valued at $1,406,698.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Ryder System by 13.6% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 193,131 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $15,322,000 after buying an additional 23,111 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ryder System during the first quarter worth $290,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ryder System by 33.3% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 34,694 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,752,000 after buying an additional 8,674 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in shares of Ryder System by 10.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 19,678 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,561,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its stake in shares of Ryder System by 12.5% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 32,930 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after acquiring an additional 3,652 shares in the last quarter. 87.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ryder System

Ryder System, Inc operates as a logistics and transportation company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Fleet Management Solutions (FMS), Supply Chain Solutions (SCS), and Dedicated Transportation Solutions (DTS). The FMS segment offers full-service leasing and leasing with flexible maintenance options; commercial vehicle rental services; and contract or transactional maintenance services of trucks, tractors, and trailers; access to diesel fuel; and fuel planning and tax reporting, cards, and monitoring services, and centralized billing, as well as sells used vehicles through its retail sales centers and www.ryder.com/used-trucks website, as well as digital and technology support services.